Manufacture of paper.



w. CURTIS, JR.

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. APPLICATION FILED Jun 1 0, 1908. RENEWED FEB. 15,1911.

Patented Aug. 29, 1-911.

4 SHEETS8HEET 1,

ATTORNEYQ W. CURTIS, J11. MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. APPLICATION FILED 111111110, 1908. nnnnwnn r1111. 15, 1911.

1,001,822. Patented Aug. 29, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

111101, IIIIIIIIIIIIII ATTORNEY;

W. CURTIS, JR. MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. APPLICATION. FILED JUNE 10, mos. RENEWED 1,001,822.

.d & 1 1 mm a P E r WITNESSES:

- BY /TTTORNEYQ W. CURTIS, JR. MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1908. RENEWED FEB. 15, 1911. ,822.

Patented Aug. 29, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

INVENTOR.

WITNESSES:

ATTOR N EYJ.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFrIcE.

WBEN CURTIS, 7B,, PALMER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNdB 'ro mrnnnnrroxnr. rnr'nn COMPANY, 03 NEW YORK, N. Y., A. GORYOBATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification 01' Letters Patent.

' mmuracrunn or rerun.

Patented Aug. 29, 1911.

Applieation flled June 10, 1808, Serial No. 437,708. Renewed February 15, 1811'. Serial No. 608,711.

To all whom it may 009cm:

Be itknown'that I, WARREN Cmrrrs, Jr.,-

a citizen of the United States, residing at Palmer, county of Saratoga, State of New 5 York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Paper; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the manufacture of paper, and is designed particularly to realize an important economy in the procedure at present practiced for supplying paper machines with the stock mixture, and, at the same time, to obtain practical uniformity in the quality of the paper produced. Newspaper stock is com ounded by the admixture of wood pulp an sulfite pulp in varying proportions, according to the quality desired, together withother in redients such as clay, size, colors, and the llke, intimately admixed, and with as large a percentage of the white water from the paper machines as can be made available. In the paper making art, it is customary to make up the standard stock mixture from. these constitucuts, by introducing the pulp into the usual beater engines, of shallow depth and relatively large surface area, and (after removing or otherwise rendering ineffective the beater knives) to cause the pulp to circu- 85 late in the elliptical trough of the beaterengine, under the influence of the propelling action of the beater engine drum. The mixture of wood pulp and sulfite pulp is thus brought into a comparatively slow -circulation, and during its progress, the clay, size, color and the like, are added, with the final result that the materials are mixed with greater or less uniformity, depending upon the care, skill'and attention of the attendant. The beater-engine',. as thus employed, is but poorly adapted for mixing purposes. It does not operate with suflicient energy to effect a prompt and thorough intermingling of the ingredients, it is slow in its action, and, because of its shallow depth in com arison with its extent of surface, it is dicult for the attendant to accurately gage the proportions of the wood pulp and sullite 55 pulp admitted, so as to obtain in successive charges the same relative amounts with more beater engines employ provided with an agitator,

than'approximate accuracy, distribution throughout the the remaining ingredients is but partially realized. Moreover, each beater engine, when thus employed, requires the attention of several operators, and, in view of the small capacity of the individual beater-engine, a number of them are required for supplying even a'smgle paper machine of the modern type, so that, in a lar e paper mill, the for this purpose not only require the services of man operand theuniform mass of pulp ofators, but occu y a very considerab e. floor space, and pro uce a succession of charges or batches which are individually not wholly homogeneous, and which vary among themselves in relative proportions, often within wide limits.

The purpose of my present'invention is to suppress the use of these beater engines for mixing purposes, and to provide an organized procedure for the manufacture of newspaper, wherein the paper machines employed at the mill for producing a certain quality of stock of a practically uniform character, which will not vary materially during successive time periods. To this end, I substitute for the beater engines of small capacity and inefiicient service, a source of practically uniform and thoroughly intermingled stock mixture, adapted to be efiiciently operated by a single attendant, the necessary controlling valves for the admission of the several ingredients and for the discharge into the main stuff-chest of the mill of the mixed batch being within immediate proximity to each other so as to be operated by him with corresponding facility. This source of uniform Supply is also of a capacity corresponding to the combined capacity of the beater engines for which it is substituted, and is of such an efiicient character as to effect a practically homogeneous intermin ling, .not only of the two qualities of pulp employed, but also an equally complete and homogeneous admixture with the pulp, of the remaining ingredients. From this source of practically uniform stock mixture supply, is replenished, at intervals, the main stuff-chest 0f the mill, the said main stuff-chest being to prevent settling and Stratification, and hang of such capacity as to fully satisfy the demands of provided with mixing devices l source of mixture supply.

'the individual stuff-chests of the several able character for preventing stratification invention into practice; Fig.;2\represents a feet of travel per minute at the such slight variations as might conceivably exist between successive batches from the From the receiving reservoir or main stuff-chest, the stock is preferably passed through a plurality of jordans and thence to paper machines, wherein it is kept in agitation, and from which it is withdrawn by the usual. measuring pumps, and is finally delivered to the screens of the paper machines.

In the accompanying drawin s, v-liig'ure 1 represents diagrammatically an in elevation a part of the main-elements of a system 'or organization of apparatus for putting my continuation of the view shown 1n -;Iiig. 1 Figs. 3 and 4 representcorrespondingplan. views of the parts shown Figs.- and 2, respectively.

Similar letters of reference indicate lar parts throughout the several views. p

Referring to the drawings,'.A indicates. the main stuif-chest,.which', n this instance",- may be assumed as supplying say from two to five paper making machines of'tlie-usual". size and capacity of output,'for the -produc -fl tionof newspaper. The main stuifvchest A is provided with an agitator a offany suitand separation of the ingredients of the mixture.

In convenient proximity to the main stuffchest A is located the preliminary mixing device, constituting the source of the prac-. tically uniform and homogeneous mixture. This preliminary mixing device consists of a tank B, provided with a rapidly rotating stirrer, preferably of the type wherein a downward, outward and inward movement or flow of the material is produced. The propelling agitator'or stirrer is, in practice, revolved at a very high rate of speed, approximating about one thousand (1,000) periphery thereof, so as to cause the most intimate and thorough intermingling of the ingredients, and this mixing operation takes place with special completeness at the lower portion of the tank B, assisted by the preliminary action, if need be, of a number of blades 0 attached to the upper part of the shaft (2 of the stirrer and having a slight downward inclination.

The ground wood pul is admitted rovi ed with a cutthrough a conduit 7 and the s fite [pulp is admitted ofl Va ve 1'' through a pipe g provide with a cut-off accessibletoa single operator standing upon th'e'aplatforma So, also, the discharge .jfor admitting the mixture into the chestfA-Lispreferably operated from the :platform, through the intermediacy of a valve 9'. The white water conduit it coming from the paper machines is likewise provided with a cut-ofi valve h and a receiving tank 1 for the clay mixture is supplied there.- with from a suitable pipe m. The clay tank may likewise serve as a measuring vessel for accurately gaging the quantity of clay admitted into the batch and is provided with a discharge pipe at having acut-off valve n and leading into the tank B. The color, alum, sizing and the like, which are small in amount, may be conveniently added to the batehby hand, from pails or buckets provided for the purpose.

The general contour of the mixing tank B is preferably cylindrical, or of some other regular form, so as to permit the operator to judge accurately as to the relative proportions of the several ingredients added, .by noting their effect in raising the level within the tank- B as they are separately added thereto. The tank B, which is, in the usual practice, about fourteen (14) feet in height, and of the relative dimensions illustrated in the drawing, is provided with a-' platform D and with a stair E or other suitableim'eans for reaching the platform, and

theseveral-cut-off valves are located in close rnximi'ty to. each other, so as to be readily controlling lever which actuates a hydraulic orotheneylinder F, whose movable pie-- ton is-eonnected, with the stem or rod of the gate.

A rotary pump G is connected with-the lower'portion of the main stuff-chest A and lifts the stock to the flow-box H into the jordan I, the flow-box being provided with the usual over-flow return '1' to the main stuif-chest A and being provided with the pipe connection 8 leading to the jordan. In like manner, a second jordan, inline with the first, is supplied from the same pump through the intermediacy of its individual ture and for keeping the solid particles in suspension. A measurln pl er' um P lifts the stockfrom thg in di idugl st ilfiehest N to the flow-box R havin a return to and having a connection a; w 'ch leads to thepump S. The pump Sliftsthestock. to thevscreen of the paper machine.

flow-box, as indicated in the plan view,

jordan, the stock passes It is apparent from the foregoing description of the construction and arrange.- ment of the system, and of the purposes or objects of the invention, that, by means thereof, a plurality of paper machines may be supplied with stock of practically identical quality and that this plurality of machines will, therefore, turn out a practically uniform product, not only during fractional periods of time, but for the entire operation of either or both machines, for however long an interval either or both may be kept at Work.

The dominating mass of uniform stock present in the main stufi-chest and the practically absolute uniformity with which that stock is replenished from time to time from the large capacity mixing tank B renders inappreciable any slight variations that might conceivably exist between successive batches produced in the mixing tank B; so that a uniform product at all times can be relied upon, whatever the number of paper machines serve from the main stuff-chest, and a product wherein the ingredients are intermingled and incorporated with each other with substantial homogeneity. Moreover, where the stock is supplied to the main stufl-chest from a plurality of beater engine mixers the individual errors from each of the small batches are cumulative andare correspondingly multiplied in the stock; whereas, a like individual error in the charge of the tank B would be relatively insignificant and negligible and would not interfere in any appreciable way with the practical uniformity of the stock supply.

Furthermore, in so far as the plant itself is concerned, the entire mixing operation is conducted, not only at a less initial cost of installation, and with a corresponding economy in floor space, but also the services of a great number of operators are dispensed with and the single mixer is manipulated by one operator with a degree of certainty and uniformity appropriate to the exceptional facilities available for use by him.

It will, of course, be understood that, if desired, an additional mixing tank B may be held in reserve to be substituted for temporary use should the tank B, for any reason, become disabled; ,or, where the mill is volume that any possible mmor variations between successive batches would be inappreciable in the main stuff-chest. mixture.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The method of producing a practically uniform quality of paper as the output of a plurality of paper-making machines, which consists in maintaining in the main stuft chest of said machines a dominating pool or mass of mixed stock substantiallyuniform in character, replenishing said pool or mass at intervals from a substantially uniform source of supply of large volume, whereby any possible minor irregularities in the uniformity of said source of supply are compensated by the dominating pool in the main stuff-chest, and distributing the supplies to the stufi chests of the individual paper machines from said main stuff-chest supply, in proportion -to the respective output capacities of the paper machines; substantially as described.

2. The combination with -a plurality of paper-making machines of the several individual stock or stuif-chests thereof, a main stuff-chest supplying the several individual stock or stuff-chests, and common to all of them, and a mixing tank for supplying the main stuff-chest, said mixing tank being provided with means for obtaining a substantially homogeneous mixture therein, and being of relatively large capacity, but of less capacity than the main stuif-chest, so that the complete charge of the mixmg device may be received at intervals into the said main stuff-chest and so that a donnnating pool of substantially uniform quality may prevail in said chest; substantlally as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

\VARREN CURTIS, JR. WVitnesses:

. A. H. WHITE,

CHAS. D. BLANGHARD. 

